The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments used in performances throughout the entire world. According to the 2012 Music Trades Music Industry Census Report, Fretted Instruments and Related Products is a $1.5 billion industry with 1 million-1.5 million acoustic guitars sold every year. A vast majority of those guitars are entry level guitars below $500 indicating a very regular interest for new learners.
Unfortunately, many of the consumers that purchase guitars never reach an advanced level of proficiency, likely due to the steep learning curve and ongoing time demands of practice. Concurrently, many proficient players lose the ability to play at some point due to physical ailments or disabilities that inhibit the individual's physical dexterity required to play. There are many examples of lifelong players that lost the ability to play because of hand/arm/shoulder injury, stroke or arthritis. Likewise, many people born with an ailment impacting one of their hands may have never had the opportunity to learn a musical instrument.
Attempts have been made to bring automation to guitars in order to overcome the limitations of some users. However, such devices fall short in many areas. For one, most automated guitar devices are not designed to be portable, often requiring elaborate setups to properly align and mount to the guitar. Still, other devices are designed as permanent fixtures further diminishing the portability of the instrument. Another issue is the amount of control over the instrument that is provided to the user. Most of these devices feature chords that are sequentially actuated automatically, while others are fully automated, providing picking mechanisms, thus leaving no control to the user at all.
The emergence of computer technology and musical software interfaces has revolutionized the options for musicians. With the combination of newly developed software and hardware, guitar players now have opportunities they may not have had, with higher forms of versatility and musical capacity compared to previous history.
Therefore it is the object of the present invention to provide a pedal operated configurable guitar chord player. The present invention is a portable apparatus that will temporarily attach to a guitar enabling electronic actuation of chords on the fret board using a single foot pedal or a single push button, which when pushed will actuate the next chord in a sequence of pre-programmed chords. The present invention allows the user to play any standard guitar using one hand to pick or strum while one foot or one finger presses the pedal or button to actuate the chords. The apparatus leverages software that interfaces to the apparatus from a computer or mobile device to define chords, the sequence in which they should be played, and if applicable, the lyrics. Chords and lyrics are highlighted in the software as the applicable chord becomes active on the device. The present invention is a suited for use among new learners, children, disabled persons, and seasoned guitarists.